Apparatus for the manufacture of gas



(No Model.)

T. S. G. LOWE.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS.

No. 401,570 Patented Apr. 16, 1889.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL UNITED STATES PATENT rricn.

THADDEUS S. C. LOIVE, OF NORRISTOVVN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE GUARANTEE TRUST AND SAFE DEPOSIT COMPANY, TRUSTEES, OF

PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 401,570, dated April 16, 1889.

Application filed November 12, 1884. Serial No. 147,764. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THADDEUS S. O. LOWE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Norristown, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Gas, of which invention the following is a specification.

The manufacture of water-gas by the pro cesses heretofore known, including those pat- 1o ented to me September 21, 1875, has not been as economically done as is now proposed, because of the vast amount of heat lost by be ing carried away in the gas produced, as well as by the products of combustion passing out I 5 of the generator while the beats are being restored.

The object of the invention herein described is to save the heat thus lost and to produce the gas in the most economical way as respects consumption of fuel as well as cost and permanency of apparatus. Furthermore, it has been the custom to employ steam-boilers as parts of the apparatus for making watergas, which steam-boilers have occasioned un- 2 5 necessary expense by the consumption of fuel and by the repairs always attending their use such repairs often considerably obstructing the use of the other parts of the apparatus. By the employment of the below-described 3o inexpensive steam-generator, which will last indefinitely without renewal or repairs, all boilers are dispensed with.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section, partly in elevation, of one form 3 5 of my apparatus; Fig. 2, a section of the same on the line Z Z.

A is the gasgenerator, consisting of an iron shell lined with fire-bricks or other highly-refractory materials, B, and provided with grate-bars or a fire-brick perforated arch, O, at or near its base. The generator A contains a chamber, D, for coal, wood, or other carbonaceous substances, 3. It also contains a mass of fire-bricks, metal bars, or other refractory materials, F, loosely piled, and above these a combined water-heater and steam-gem erator, which generator consists of bars or pieces of iron, steel, copper, or other suitable metal, G, loosely piled in checker-work. The

fire-bricks or metal bars G maybe laid either as shown, or, preferably, so that the bars in each superior layer shall overlie" the open spaces between the bricks or bars in the next inferior parallel layer.

H is a water-spraying nozzle or atomizer at 5 5 tached to the water-supply pipe I.

J is a tight-fitting lidv or damper at the top of generator A.

K is a door through which fuel is put into the chamber D. To facilitate the removal of clinkers close-covered holes (not shown) may be made through the wall of the generator just above the grate-bars.

M is a door opening into the ash-pit under the grate-bars.

N is a heat-restorer, consisting of an iron casing lined with fire-bricks or other refractory or non-conducting materials, 0, and containing in its lower part a mass of fire-bricks, metal bars, or other suitable heat-retaining 7o materials, 0, and above these bars or pieces of iron, steel, copper, or other suitable metal, 0 all loosely laid, as in the generator A.

R is a pipe or flue connecting the ash-pit of the generator A with the lower part of the heat-restorer N. The pipe R is supplied with a valve or damper, preferably of fire-clay.

S is the gas-outlet, which may be provided with an ordinary valve or a pipe leading to a water-seal.

T is an air-inlet pipe, which also is provided with an ordinary valve.

U is a tight-fitting lid or damper at the top of the heat-restorer.

V is a hot-blast pipe, preferably lined with 85 fire-clay and having a regulating-valve, WV.

hen it is desired to put this apparatus into operation, I raise the damper J, and kindle a fire in chamber D, adding fuel from time to time until a glowing mass of it sevo eral feet thick is obtained, employing either a forced air-blast or the natural draft, as desired. During this time a large quantity of combustible gases arises from the fuel, which gases are inflamed above the fuel and under 9 5 and among the fire-bricks F, which will become highly heated, the low er portions thereof to a white heat and the upper portions to a dark-red, and the metal bars G piled above the bricks to several hundred degrees of heat, which may be indicated by pyrometers, as at X. The metal bars G may, if desired, be so heated that the lower bars become of a darkred and the uppermost bars only moderately warmed. After this apparatus comprised in the generator A has become properly heated, the thick body of fuel in chamber D being in a state of incandescence, the door M of the ashpit is opened and thelid J closed. The valve Y in the water-pipe I is then opened and water permitted to flow in through the nozzle 'H, falling, preferably, in the form of a fine misty spray on the upper surfaces of the top bars of metal G, and running down through the several layers of metal bars until it reaches a point where it becomes sufficiently hot to be convertedinto steam,which steam afterward, on its way down, comes in contact with the hot surfaces of the lower metal bars and the still hotter surfaces of the fire-bricks F, until finally it comes in contact with the mass of burning carbon contained in chamber D, where it is instantly decomposed and the resulting gas begins to issue through the gratebars 0 into the ash-pit, and is there ignited either by its own heat or by the application to it of a flame or gas-jet. The damper U of the heat-restorer N and the valve in pipe B being now opened, air is drawn into the apparatus through the door M, and, mingling with the burning gases, passes through pipe B into the heat-restorer N, producing a quick combustion of said gases, the products of which combustion entering the heat-restorer soon drive all the atmospheric air out of it. The door M of the ash-pit is then tightly closed and the combustible gases produced by the decomposition of the steam pass from the generator through the pipe B into the heatrestorer N, the damper U of which is thereupon closed and the combustible gases allowed to pass out through the pipe S to a holder or to points of distribution or consumption either directly or through a washer, a scrubber, and a purifier, as may be preferred.

The method of operation above described has the effect, first, of cooling the upper layersof metal bars G in the generator to the temperature of the water introduced and of reducing the temperature of the lower layers of metal bars G from dark-red to near the temperature of the steam generated, the steam as it passes down toward the hot fuel gradually absorbing the heat from the open brick-work F until the upper layers of brick may be reduced as low as a cherry-red heat before the steam ceases when brought intocontact with the carbon in chamber D to decompose, the carbon remaining of a higher temperature even than the hottest part of the open fire-brick work. At the same time a large amount of heat is absorbed from the hot gases passing from the generator through the heat-restorer N by the firebricks or other refractory materials, 0', and still further and more completely by the metal bars 0 contained in the heat-restorer, the manufactured gases being thus so completely deprived of their heat that they escape at the outlet S in a comparatively cool state.

After a time, according to the quantity of steam decomposed, it will become necessary to restore the heat to the fuel E, fire-bricks F, and metal bars G, contained in the generator. To accomplish this, the valve in the waterpipe'l is closed, the damper U of the heat-restorer opened, and the combustible gases now slowly escaping at the outlet S ignited by a flame, and for this purpose a gas-jet may be kept constantly burning at that point. As soon as the gas escaping at S is ignited, the damper J of the generator is opened. This occasions the gas-flame at S, along with atmospheric air, to be drawn into the heat-restorer N, igniting and consuming all the gases therein, the object of which operation is to prevent explosions, which would occur if air were allowed to mix with uninflamed gases inside the heat-restorer. (In this connection it is proper to state that to effect the consumption without explosion of the gases in the heat-restorer it is not necessary that the application of flame and admission of air should take place at the opening S alone, as the flame maybe applied and the air admitted at the ash-pit door M of the generator, or at any point or points in the connecting-pipe R or in the base of the heat-restorer N, or at any opening in the lower part of the apparatus.) Air by natural draft or a forced blast is now admitted through the pipe T into the heat-restorer and the damper U closed. The blast of cold air entering the heat-restorer first comes in contact with the upper and least-heated layers of piled metal bars 0 then with the lower layers of those bars and with the piled bricks O, and enters the generator through the pipe V, a portion of the same passing into the space immediately above the burning fuel E and aportion through pipe R into the heated ash-pit of the generator, and thence up through the fuel, quickly restoring the latter to the requisite heat and inflaming the combustible gases arising from the fuel, the proper proportions of air being regulated by the valves or dampers. This has the effect of again heating the masses of fuel, the fire-bricks, and the metal bars piled up in the generator, when the apparatusis ready for again making water-gas.

The above-described alternate operations of heating up the apparatus and making the gas may be indefinitely repeated.

When a steady flow of gas is required, I employ two sets of the above-described apparatus.

More than one nozzle for spraying the water in the generator may be employed, if desired. In order to prevent the spray of water from coming into contact with the fire-brick lining of the generator A, I face with iron or other suitable metal that portion of the generator surrounding the piled metal bars.

Instead of admitting hot air from the heatrestorer through pipe V, as described, air, cold or hot, from any source may be admitted to the generator through the valves A and B, or through either of them, as desired; but I prefer the use of hot air, in the manner first described, as being more economical.

Steam from any boiler or external source may be admitted into the generator and used in conjunction with that generated and superheated by the metal bars and bricks in the generator, as first described, if desired.

Power for producing the necessary forceblast may be cheaply obtained by the use of a gas-engine, which may be driven by a portion of the gas made by the process above described or otherwise.

To carry out my said process, it is not essential that the two above-described kinds of materialsviz., fire-bricks and metal barsto furnish the heated surfaces for the heating of water and the generation and superheating of steam and air shall be employed,,as a part of the advantages of my process may be enjoyed where comparatively low heat will answer the purpose in view by the use of the metal bars without the piled fire-bricks or by the use of the piled fire-bricks or other heatresisting materials alone; but I prefer the use of the bricks and bars together, placed in the generator and heat-restorer, substantially as shown and first described.

IVhen it is desired to admit steam instead of water into the generator preparatory to the manufacture of water-gas, the steam may be admitted either through the water-pipe I or by other means at the top of the generator, or at any point lower down among the highlyheated surfaces of the metal bars or fire-bricks or steam may be thus admitted through a separate pipe in conjunction with the spray of water.

Sometimes, in order to prevent the creation of too high a heat in the lower part of the generator before the coal and the fire-bricks and metal bars in the upper part of the generator have become sufficiently hot, it is advisable to admit a small quantity of water,

preferably in the form of spray, onto the metal bars contained in the heat-restorer N, or into the ash-pit of the generator, in order that the vapor or steam arising therefrom may with the air pass through the fuel, and thus prevent the fuel from clinkering to too great an extent.

I claim- 1. In an apparatus for making water-gas, a generator comprising in one casing or stacka steam-generator, a superhe ater, and a decomposing-chamber, to Wit: a casing or stack lined with fire-bricks or other refractory materials containing afuel or decomposing chamber, a mass of fire-bricks or other refractory materials loosely piled immediately above said fuel-chamber, a mass of metal in bars or pieces loosely piled above said last-m entioned refractory materials, a spraying-nozzle or atomizer, a damper or valve at or near its top, and a fuel-supply door, substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for making water-gas, a heat-restorer consisting of a lined casing containing fire-bricks, metal bars or other refractory materials loosely piled in the lower part thereof, and above these a mass of metal in bars or pieces loosely piled, an air-inlet, one or more gas-outlets, and a flue connecting said casing with the gas-generator, substantially as set forth.

3. In an apparatus for making water-gas, the gas-generator A, containing the fuel or decomposing chamber D, the fire-bricks or other refractory materials F, piled loosely above said chamber, the metal bars G, piled loosely above the refractory materials F, a water-inlet, H, top valve, J, and fuel-charging door K, in combination with a heat-restorer consisting of the lined casing N, containing loosely-piled fire-bricks or other refractory materials 0, and the loosely-piled bars or pieces of metal 0 and provided with a top valve, U, air-inlet T,- and gas-outlet S, said generator and heat-restorer being connected by a fine, all substantially as set forth.

T. S. C. LOWE.

WVitnesses:

J. E. SHAW, P. A. FENIMORE. 

